Rotary duplicators



June 25, 1957 w. RITZERFELD ETA-L 2,796,828

ROTARY DUPLICATORS Filed Jan. 21, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Inventors:

(gem/aw Rrrz PEI-D ROTARY DUPLICATORS Wilhelm Ritzerfeld, Berlin-Dahlem, and Gerhard Ritzerfeld, Berlin-Grunewald, Germany Application January 21, 1953, Serial No. 332,433

Claims priority, application Germany March 6, 1952 3 Claims. (Cl. 101--91) The invention relates to rotary duplicators or rotary line-printing devices, especially as are used for industrial work planning purposes, by means of which printing masters are copied on sheets, labels, cards or the like (all hereinafter embraced by the short term copy sheets).

It is an object of the invention to provide an improved rotary duplicator comprising a printing drum and a plurality of stamping wheels arranged in the printing drum for reproducing on the copy sheets indications, such as numbers, which are copied in addition to the text of a printing master, and which can be varied by suitably setting the position of the stamping wheels.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a simple and yet eliicient mechanism for setting the stamping wheels.

It is another object of the invention to provide such a setting mechanism which is entirely or in part incorporated in the printing drum.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of two embodiments of the invention when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 illustrates a cross section through a printing drum and a setting mechanism for the stamping wheels entirely arranged within the printing drum;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the arrangement of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 illustrates a cross section through a printing drum and a setting mechanism arranged in part outside the printing drum; and

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the arrangement of Fig. 3.

The setting mechanism of the invention for the stamping wheels comprises gear means, such as gear wheels or gear segments, which engage driving means for the stamping wheels, the driving means being arranged in the printing drum, the said gear means having setting means, for example recesses or projections for rotating the same. Preferably, indicating devices for the values to which the stamping wheels are set are connected to the said gear means. The setting of the stamping wheels and/or the gear means may be secured by locking means.

The gear means may be arranged within or outside the printing drum, the axes of rotation of the printing wheels, the gear means, and the setting means extending substantially parallel to the axis of rotation of the printing drum.

In the arrangement illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, a spindle 3 is arranged within a printing drum 1 of a rotary duplicator or rotary line-printing device. The spindle 3 is substantially parallel to a shaft 2 on which 7 the printing drum 1 is mounted, the spindle 3 carrying a plurality of stamping wheels 4 arranged side by side. For setting the stamping wheels 4, the same are rotatable by driving means in the shape of toothed wheels 5 arranged on the spindle 3. To each stamping wheel 4, one of the toothed wheels 5 is keyed so that each toothed wheel 5 and its corresponding stamping wheel 4 are Patented June 25, 1957 bodily rotatable together around the spindle 3. For setting the toothed wheels 5 and the corresponding stamping wheels 4 gear means 6 are provided, one for each toothed wheel 5. The gear means 6 are formed by toothed segments and are rotatably mounted on a spindle 7 substantially parallel to'the shaft 2 of the printing drum 1. The gear means 6 each comprise a segmentally shaped toothed extension 8 meshing with the respective toothed wheel 5. In the initial or zero position of any of the stamping wheels 4, the corresponding gear means 6 bears against an abutment rail 9 common to all the gear means 6 and extending through the printing drum 1. The gear means 6 has recesses corresponding to the different indications on the stamping wheels 4, which in the embodiment indicated are the digits 1, 2, 9, 0. Beside the recesses of each gear means 6, an indicator 6a is provided repeating the indicationson the stamping wheels 4, in the embodiment indicated the digits 1, 2, 9, 0. For securing the gear means 6 in a set position, ratchets 10 are provided on the printing drum 1, one for each gear means 6, each ratchet 10 engaging in a recess of the respective gear means 6.

For setting a stamping wheel 4 to a desired stamping digit, for example to the digit 7, it is only necessary to rotate the respective setting gear 6, for example, by means of a pin inserted intothe recess adjacent the digit 7 on the respective indicator 6a in the direction of the arrow of Fig. 1 until an abutment 11 on a zeroizing lever 12 has been reached whereby the respective segmental toothed extension 8 is rotated, which in turn rotates the toothed wheel 5 of the respective stamping wheel 4 and therewith the said stamping Wheel 4 into a corresponding position which is retained by the respective ratchet 10. After the stamping wheels 4 have been set, the arrangement can be zeroized by rotating the zeroizing lever 12 around the spindle 7 in the direction opposite to that of the arrow of Fig. 1, whereby an abutment bar 13 fixed to the zeroizing lever 12 carries arms 14 of the gear means 6 with it and restores the initial or Zero position of all the gear means 6 which had been set to a position diiferent from the zero position.

In the embodiment of Figs. 3 and 4, the stamping wheels 3 and the toothed wheels 5 for rotating the same are, again,.arranged on the spindle 3 in the printing drum 1. However, the setting of the toothed wheels 5 is effected by gears means 15 rotatably arranged outside the printing drum 1. The gear means 15 comprise toothed segments 16 which can be brought into engagement with the toothed wheels 5. The gear means 15 are mounted on a spindle 17 carried by a lever 18 rotatable around a spindle 19 arranged outside the printing drum 1. The control of the rotatable lever 13 for engaging the toothed segments 16 with. the respective toothed wheels 5 is effected by a control cam 20 keyed to and rotatable with the shaft 2 of the printing drum 1, the control cam 20 having a recess into which a follower on an arm 21 of the rotatable lever 18 enters underthe action of a spring 22 acting on the lever 18, when. the printing drum 1 is in an appropriate position, whereby the toothed segments 16 are brought into meshing engagement with the toothed wheels 5. The setting of the gear means 15 is again effected by means of recesses 1, 2, 9, 0 in the gear means 15. The gear means 15 abut against a zeroizing lever 12 rotatable about the spindle 17. By rotating the zeroizing lever 12 towards the abutment rail 9, the abutment bar 13 returns all the gear means 15 into their initial position. To prevent the gear means 15 while not engaging the toothed wheels 5 a from being unintentionally displaced, the gear means 15 are held in position by a spring loaded pin 23 engaging a toothed portion 24 of the rim of the gear means 15. For securing the toothed wheels 5 and therewith the stamping wheels 4 in position after they have been set ratchet 3 devices 25 are provided one for each toothed wheel 5, the ratchet devices '25 resiliently engaging the respective toothed wheels 5.

By the embodiments described, the setting of the stamping wheels is simplified in that, by operating the gear means, for example, by a pin which is moved towards an abutment, digits to be set appear with certainty .on the respective stamping wheels.

It should be clearly understood that the embodiments described and illustrated are given by way of example only, and that many modifications, additions and omissions are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

We claim:

1. For use in a rotary duplicator, a duplicating drum comprising, in combination, a rotatable drum body having acylindrical peripheral surface adapted to support a master sheet, said drum body being formed with a cavity communicating through an opening with said peripheral surface of said drum body; a set of coaxial stamping wheels .turnably mounted on said drum body within said cavity for independent turning movement about an axis parallel to the axis of rotation of said drum body each of said stamping wheels being turnable between a plurality of printing positions and having a series of stamping faces consecutively located in said opening in said printing positions, each of said stamping faces having a printing type so that different axially extending rows of printing types can be placed in said opening for printing on a copy sheet adjacent the imprint produced by the master sheet; a set of operating means mounted on said drum body Within said cavity of the same, each operating means being located adjacent and connected to one of said stamping Wheels for turning the respective stamping wheel independently of the other stamping wheels between said printing positions; a set of setting members turnably mounted on said drum body within said cavity, each of said setting members having an operating portion connected to one of said operating means for turning the same, and a setting portion having a plurality of recesses adapted to receive a manually operated setting pin, each of said recesses having an indicating means corresponding to one of said printing types, each setting member being located in the same transverse portion of said cavity as the associated stamping wheel; locking catch means in said cavity for holding each of said setting members in a plurality of setting positions respectively corresponding .to said printing positions of the respective associated stamping wheel; and an abutment member extending in said cavity in axial direction across said setting portions and being adapted to engage and stop a manually operated setting pin engaging one of said recesses in a position of the respective setting portion in which the type corresponding to the recess engaged by the settingpin is located in said opening and in a printing position.

2. For use in a rotary duplicator, a duplicating-drum comprising, in combination, a rotatable drum body .having .a cylindrical peripheral surface adapted to support a master sheet, said drum body being formed with a cavity communicating through an opening with said peripheral surface of said drum body; a set of coaxial stamping wheels turnably mounted on said drum body within said cavity for independent turning movement about an axis parallel to the axis of rotation of said drum body each of said stamping wheels being turntable between a plurality of printing positions and having a series of stamping faces consecutively located in said opening in said printing positions, each of said stamping faces having a printing type so that different axially extending rows of printing types can be placed in said opening for printing on a copy sheet adjacent the imprint produced by the master sheet; a set of operating gears mounted on said drum body Within said cavity of the same, each operating gear being located adjacent and connected to one of said stamping wheels for turning the respective stamping wheel independently of the other stamping wheels between said printing positions; a set of setting members turnably mounted on said drum body within said cavity, each of said setting members having a toothed segment portion meshing with one of said operating gears for turning the same, and a setting portion having a plurality of recesses adapted to receive a manually operated setting pin, each of said recesses having an indicating means corresponding to one of said printing types, each setting member being located in the same transverse portion of said cavity as the associated stamping wheel; locking catch means in said cavity for holding each of said setting members in a plurality of setting positions respectively corresponding to said printing positions of the respective associated stamping wheel; and an abutment member extending in said cavity in axial direction across said setting portions and being adapted to engage and stop a manually operated setting pin engaging one of said recesses in a position of the respective setting portion in which the type corresponding to the recess engaged by the setting pin is located in said opening and in a printing position.

3. A duplicating drum as set forth in claim 1 and including attaching means for a master sheet located in said cavity adjacent said stamping wheels for attaching the master sheet directly adjacent said stamping wheels.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,556,782 Glasgow Oct. 13, 1925 1,644,144 Osborne Oct. 4, 1927 1,738,422 Corse Dec. 3, 1929 1,750,399 Friedriehs Mar. 11, 1930 1,798,328 Kohler Mar. 31, 1931 1,868,997 Speicher July 26, 1932 1,968,347 Ochsenbein July 31, 1934 1,991,511 Lyman Feb. 19, 1935 2,116,609 Shomaker May 10, 1938 2,248,257 Thatcher July 8, 1941 2,306,499 Rouan Dec. 29, 1942 2,612,104 Rouan Sept. 30, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 700,125 Great Britain Nov. 25, 1953 OTHER REFERENCES Ser. No. 314,407, Mercier (A. P. C.), published May 25, 1943. a 

